


Empathy

by yeaka



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 11:46:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18940285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeaka/pseuds/yeaka
Summary: Prompto calls Noctis on some sh*t.





	Empathy

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Final Fantasy XV or any of its contents, and I’m not making any money off this.

It only takes them a few minutes to get to the fast food place Noctis has been craving, a few minutes more to get their order, and a few seconds after that to scarf all the fries down. Prompto makes them recycle the cardboard cartons instead of taking them out back for Noctis to incinerate in a blast of fire magic, but after finally getting a salty, vegetable-free treat, Noctis is in too good a mood to argue. It feels good to just be _normal_ , to hang out after school with a friend and wander aimlessly through the city streets. They spend a good while just walking, chatting about anything and everything, their schoolbags still in tow. Then Noctis decides he’s tired of lugging his textbooks everywhere, and it’s time Prompto put his money where his mouth is.

“Why don’t you come over then? I’ve already got the newest patch downloaded. Tell you what; I’ll give you three tries to _actually_ beat my record, and if you can do it, I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Whatever I want?” Prompto repeats, waggling his blond eyebrows suggestively. “Well, in that case...”

“But when you inevitably loose, you have to stand up in the middle of tomorrow’s assembly and tell everyone that your lame gaming skills are nowhere _near_ as great as your incredibly talented, totally handsome, amazingly awesome best friend.”

Prompto’s steps falter, his nose wrinkling at the thought of public humiliation. But then he recovers and thrusts out his hand, agreeing, “You’re on!”

Noctis shakes that hand with the firm, controlled movement of a future king forming a solemn treaty. Prompto snorts at Noctis’ serious face, then grins as Noctis pulls out his phone. 

“I’ll call Iggy—he can drive us home.”

“Oh, wait—” 

Noctis pauses with his thumb halfway to the phone app. He’s got Ignis on speed dial, ahead of even Prompto. “What?”

“Well... shouldn’t we walk, or something? It’s a nice day...”

Noctis blinks. “Prom, it’s like, an hour away on foot... _at least_...”

“Yeah, but... how about the bus?” 

“What, and pay money? Besides, it’ll take us longer to find a stop with the right route than it will for Ignis to come get us.”

Prompto shuffles his feet, obviously searching for words. He looks suddenly uncomfortable, which is enough of a red flag for Noctis to take it seriously and pocket his phone, even though he really doesn’t want to walk all the way back to his apartment and he hasn’t used the bus in forever. If ever. “It’s just... you get driven around a _lot_ , y’know?” 

Noctis tries not to bristle. Prompto’s the only person in his life who never gets hung up on his title. He makes an effort not to jump to conclusions and let his voice fill with annoyance, but he still asks, “Are you calling me spoiled...?”

“No! Not... that... it’s just... y’know... carbon emissions.”

Noctis stares at him. “Carbon emissions?”

“Yeah. Like, I get it, we can’t all walk everywhere, and you’re important and stuff, but... look, my parents are researches, you know, and we had this big talk yesterday about the planet and stuff, and how chocobo habitats are being destroyed, and yeah, a lot of it’s daemons, but we’re killing the climate and... and...” Prompto trails off, but Noctis gets the idea. He feels... as uncomfortable as Prompto looks.

He _knows_ that stuff matters. He knows the council released a report on their changing climate last year, giving Insomnia twelve years to drastically change, but he didn’t really think about it in terms of _him personally_.

He offers, “Well... that’s for my father and the council. They’ve got people on it. They’ll take care of it.”

“Are they?”

“Are they what?”

“Taking care of it?”

Noctis opens and closes his mouth. Deep down, he does know the answer. But he doesn’t have the heart to tell his amazing best friend that, not when he’s got big blue eyes looking at him full of so much _hope_.

After a long silence, he kicks his feet and turns away, deciding for them, “Fine. We’ll warp home.”

“ _What_?”

“You know, warp. Like, I’ll throw my sword, then you hold onto me, and we’ll warp after it.”

“Wh... Noct... _in the middle of the city_??”

“Sure, why not? I’ve got great aim.”

When Noctis looks back, he finds Prompto’s face a mixture of shock, horror, and excitement. Noctis reaches out his arm in offering.

Prompto curiously steps into it, and Noctis latches on before summoning a dulled practice sword and throwing it at the mailbox two blocks down. He and Prompto are there before the three civilians they whipped past can say a word, and then they’re off again towards the sweet distraction that is fantasy video games.


End file.
